When you mention creation, most Westerners and even many Christians will respond, “can we really believe that?” assuming that something more like an evolutionary process was responsible for the origins of the universe and life.
Yes, we can absolutely believe that God created all things. There is no possible proof that it couldn’t or didn’t happen. The assertion that it couldn’t is based on the narrow-minded assumption of the Western world in the last 200 years that only things that can be measured and explained are real. For the whole of human history prior to that the West did believe that creation happened – as do most other cultures in the world today.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. (Genesis 1:1)
Creation means that the universe, life and we are not merely an accident, that might just as well be snuffed out but are part of the deliberate purpose of God the eternal Creator, who loves us, and is also the Redeemer who plans to save, heal and glorify us, the earth and the heavens, to share eternity with Him.
Therefore, we can be irrepressibly hopeful and joyful about the future of the world and of humanity, and in faith and anticipation work toward the renewal of true human community, and the healing and blessing of the environment.
Grace and cheers, Jonathan.